How many different techniques were required to manufacture this brass lunchbox? This talk examines the form and function of the lunchbox, and links it to earlier examples produced during the Mamluk sultanate (1250-1517) in Egypt and Syria? 

Figure 1. Brass lunchbox, purchased in Syria, c. 1998. Constructed from beaten, cast, and cut brass with additional tinning. Probably produced in the twentieth century.

Figure 2. Side view of the lunchbox showing the clasps.

Figure 3. View of the six sections making up the lunchbox.

Figure 4. Interior of top and bottom sections showing the tinning of the interior surfaces.